PASTORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY & SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

Pastoral Psychotherapy or Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy is an approach to therapy that incorporates clinical skills and the reality of religious, spiritual or faith life of the therapist and the client. in Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy, the therapeutic goal is the client’s psychological and spiritual restoration and growth. Issues such as spiritual conflicts, doubts, crises of faith, change of spiritual beliefs and practices, religious trauma, or the absence of belief in a Supreme Being become part of the therapeutic process.

Very often, life transitions bring challenges to our spirituality. A tragic loss, the experience of betrayal, or changes in our understanding of the world, do shake up our familiar spiritual beliefs and call us to revisit and redefine them. Very often a spiritual crisis may resemble a psychological crisis and is diagnosed as such. Very often, such a crisis treated only clinically, and the spiritual aspect is overlooked. The outcome is never completely satisfactory.

Spiritually integrated psychotherapy embraces your spirituality--even in cases where you believe you are not a spiritual being--and helps you incorporate that part of you in your healing process. Pastoral psychotherapy may integrate the skills and interventions used in spiritual direction within each client’s unique clinical context.

Spiritual direction is a process that helps you discern how your spirituality is present in the reality of your everyday life, guiding you toward your highest good. It is not a clinical process, and it is mostly focused on helping you discern and heed the movements of the Divine Presence within you and in your relationships with others.